Strawberry Pie

This past Saturday I went to my favorite local vegetable stand, Landrum's. As I was about to check out I saw that they had fresh Louisiana strawberries. These are GREAT for making pies. I am not making a pie this time, but made a strawberry pie back in March but haven't posted about it yet. I made this when a friend came over for dinner but no one ended up eating it...and it was the best one I've made yet. Oh, well. I just shared a couple of pieces with my mom and Granny (this was actually the weekend before she died, so she knew that I could make a pie crust! :-) ). I am a pie crust snob and like making my own...you just can't trust the store bought kind. So, I'll give you the crust recipe as well as the pie recipe. Feel free to "lighten" the recipe by using sugar free ingredient...I did and actually think it worked better than the full sugar variety. Because berries are FULL of antioxidants, this is my entry to Sweetnick's ARF Tuesday. Check out the site for more great recipes.

Pie Crust
1 cup sifted flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 T water
1/3 cup shortening

Sift flour and salt into bowl. Remove 1/4 cup flour and blend to a paste. Cut shortening into remaining flour until pieces are size of small peas. Add paste to flour mixture. Mix with fork until dough comes together and can be shaped into a ball (this is best done by putting a piece of saran wrap over the bowl, dumping it, and pressing the dough together.) Place in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes. Roll out crust to 1/8 inch thick to cover 9-inch pie pan.

For this pie, prick holes in the crust with a fork or fill with uncooked peas or pie weights. Heat oven to 400 degrees F and bake for 10 minutes.

Strawberry Pie

1 baked pie shell

1 lb strawberries

1 cup sugar

1 cup 7-UP (I used diet)

3 T corn starch

1/2 packet strawberry jello (sugar free is fine)

cool whip

Put the sugar, corn starch, and 7-UP in a saucepan and cook until thick. When it begins to boil, that is thickest it will get. Remove from heat and add the jello powder. Stir. While you are cutting the strawberries, allow this to cool. It may still be slightly warm when you pour it over the berries. Wash and slice the strawberries. I like mine in quarters or smaller, but if you prefer larger berries, go for it! Place the strawberries in the pie shell and pour the cooked sauce over it. Refrigerate for several hours or until cool and set. Serve with a dolop of cool whip! Enjoy!